


(you don't have to say i love you to say) i love you

by tofhoney



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Fluff, M/M, Short One Shot, Songfic, and this shit happened, crossposted on tumblr and i liked it so i posted it here, edit: thanks for all the support!, so i used "for him" for inspo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-14
Updated: 2016-09-14
Packaged: 2018-08-15 02:27:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8038594
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tofhoney/pseuds/tofhoney
Summary: His voice is quiet against Keith’s pulse.“I trust you.”





	(you don't have to say i love you to say) i love you

**Author's Note:**

> i'm honestly not sure what this is
> 
> (edit 17.5.17): clean up!

His voice is quiet against Keith’s pulse.

“I trust you.”

Keith jerks back, a surprised look on his face. Scrambling on his hands, slamming them into the stone, pushing himself up and scattering the fragments of peace with a single word. He's  _afraid_ ; afraid that Lance is just joking and that he's far too gullible.

“Why?”

Lance cocks his head, confused.

“Why wouldn’t I?”

Keith looks at him, stunned. His hands make their way behind his back, twisting into odd formations to hide his fear.

“We’re friends, right?”

Keith wants to smile. (He knows that he should. That’s what friends do, right?)

Keith’s never really had any friends.

So all he says is, “Right.” 

Lance smiles at him. “Good.”

When Keith turns away, he ignores the ache in his chest. Something is wrong, and it _bugs_ him that he doesn’t know what. He ignores the screaming in his head to turn back, to look at Lance and say _anything_ , just to hear his voice again, but his body is pushing him out of the room, so he follows it. When he turns around, he tries to imagine that there is regret on Lance’s face, but all he sees are twinkling eyes.

* * *

_we are runnin’ so fast,_   
_and we never look back,_   
_and whatever I lack, you make up._

* * *

Lance has a tiny glimmer of a smile on his face as he looks down on Keith. Tears, golden tears of sadness, silver tears of longing stream down his face, and he uses a bloody hand to wipe them away.

_“Keith!”_

He wants to turn his head and look, but he can’t. Lance’s eyes are like pools of water, drawing him in, and he wants to sleep. Lance smiles.

“Stay awake for us, okay?”

Keith shakes his head weakly. “I don’t need to stay awake for us.”

Lance seems to ponder this for a moment, his tears, unnoticed, streaming down onto Keith’s open palms, coating the bloody gash in his side. Keith is impressed; Lance had always seemed to arrogant to care for others, but he's here now, with his hands wrapped around Keith's waist and sadness written across his features.

“Stay awake for me.”

Somehow, that makes all the difference.

* * *

_we make a really good team_   
_though not everyone sees,_   
_we got this crazy chemistry_   
_between us._

* * *

Lance doesn’t want to think of what would have happened if he hadn’t gotten to Keith on time.

It’s strange, a year ago, if someone had told him he would _care_ for Keith, he wouldn’t believe them. He does now, though.

“How long have you been here?”

Lance turns his head slightly, and is greeted to the sight of high cheekbones, pale skin, and a silver arm. 

Shiro sits down next to him, and smiles.

“How is he?”

Lance wants to yell,  _“What do you think?”_ but he knows that Shiro is barely holding it together as well, and doesn’t want to push it.

It’s even stranger that Lance doesn’t remember when he did start to care for Keith, or Shiro, or even Pidge. Relationships come easy to him, but with these new ones it feels like they took far too long.

He doesn’t question it. All he knows is that he cares now, and that’s all that matters.

So he sits with Shiro and mutters, “We made a really good team.”

Shiro frowns, “You two _make_ a really good team. Don’t give up yet.”

Lance isn’t sure if he even has anything to give up at this point.

* * *

_jump starting your car ‘cause this city’s a bore,_   
_buying e-cigarettes at the convenience store,_   
_making new clichés on our own little tour,_   
_let’s ride…_

* * *

Lance stays with him.

He tells Keith stories of his family, about his mother and her famous chocolate cakes, about his brothers and their ragtag games of football. About his sister, who is probably wondering where he is right about now.

About how much he misses _Keith._

“You know, it’s strange, to think that I care about you. I-I’m sorry if that offended you, I mean… We were rivals in Garrison? And now I’m in space. With you. And I think that you’re my friend now.”

If Lance was honest, he didn’t even know if Keith was his friend. He liked him, sure, but every time they spoke, Lance was drawn to Keith’s little movement, like when he twiddled his thumbs, or when he smiled, and his dimple on his left cheek showed up. Or the way his violet eyes twinkled with mischief when Shiro reprimanded Lance. Thinking about it now, Lance realised that he never thought about the small ticks of any other person.

It was always Keith.

Was Lance… _in love with Keith?_

The minute the thought enters his brain, he wants to bash it out, but it feels too right, just sitting there, quiet, _taunting_ him for not noticing it before.

“I think I love you.”

For once in his life, saying those three words sounds _right._

* * *

_you don’t have to say, “i love you,” to say i love you,_   
_forget all the shooting stars and all the silver moons,_   
_we’ve been making shades of purple out of red and blue._

* * *

Keith wakes up (eventually).

Lance is the first to rush up and hug him.

“I thought I lost you.”

Lance sobs against his chest, and Keith hugs him, silent streams of tears circling down his face.

There’s an unspoken agreement between the two.

Lance pulls away and smiles.

Keith grabs his hand.

Lance’s eye’s widen, and he smiles. “I’ll talk to you later?” He wipes tears from his eyes, and-

_“Stay awake for me.”_

“I-I…”

Lance turns, with a sad look in his eyes. “Don’t say it unless you mean it.”

“Oh god. _I love you_ , Lance McClain, with all my heart, and I never want to let you go.”

This time, when they’re hugging, the crush of their bodies feels real, and Lance is sobbing into Keith’s hair, “I love you, I love you, I love you…”

So they stay like that, the sun and the moon finally reunited.

* * *

_sickeningly sweet like honey, don’t need money,_   
_all I need is you,_   
_all I need is you, you._

**Author's Note:**

> ireallyshipthat on tumblr btw!


End file.
